The numbers of cruisers along Federal Boulevard this Cinco de Mayo weekend was unusually light thanks to the rain and the popular Oscar de la Hoya and Floyd Mayweather boxing match.
“It was the weather and the fight,” said Virginia Quiñones, spokeswoman for the Denver police.
Cinco de Mayo celebrates a victory by Mexican forces over French occupiers at Puebla, Mexico, in 1862.
In past years, hundreds of citations have been written and at least 100 arrests made as people cruised along Federal Boulevard from West Florida Avenue to 38th Avenue.
On Saturday, Denver police issued 68 traffic tickets, made 79 arrests and issued seven warnings on Federal Boulevard, Quiñones said. Friday night, there were only 40 tickets written, 23 arrests and nine people warned, she said.
In Civic Center Park today, the annual Cinco de Mayo celebration drew a modest crowd under gray skies.
Monique Cordova and her 15-year-old daughter Natasha Sena went to Civic Center Park with Two-Edged Sword, a Christian group from Arvada, with a mission to minister to others.
They wore clear plastic ponchos to keep dry.
“My faith in the Lord brought me out here,” Cordova said. “I’m surprised people are still here in the rain.”
At a booth under a blue tarp, salesman Ebu Thioune lamented the rain and thin crowd as he tried to sell novelty T-shirts and CDs.
“It would be better if it did not rain, because it hurts my business,” he said. “It did suffer. Usually, there are hundreds, no, thousands of people.”
As the sun peeked through clouds, Thioune tried to be optimistic.
“Maybe it will be better now,” he said.
Staff writer Felisa Cardona can be reached at 303-954-1219 or at fcardona@denverpost.com.
